Gross sales of uncooked milk within the U.S. have risen 21% since fowl flu was first confirmed in dairy cattle in late March, in accordance with a report from PBS Newshour, citing new information from analysis agency NielsenIQ. Why on Earth would individuals drink uncooked milk at a time when pasteurization has been proven to kill the virus? As a result of some individuals imagine deliberately being uncovered to H5N1 will give them “immunity” to the illness. Significantly.
At the least 46 dairy cow herds in 9 states have examined optimistic for fowl flu, in accordance with the newest figures from the U.S. Division of Agriculture, with 4 new herds reported just today. The large concern is that widespread outbreaks in dairy cows present extra alternatives for the virus to mutate, probably permitting it to unfold freely amongst different species.
Inactive viral remnants of H5N1 have been present in pasteurized milk however the USDA assures customers it’s safe to drink. Uncooked milk, alternatively, is displaying “excessive concentrations” of the virus, in accordance with the USDA, and consuming unpasteurized dairy merchandise proper now appears like taking part in Russian Roulette.
Whereas there have been no identified instances of human-to-human transmission of the virus, that has the potential to alter if mutations happen. The World Well being Group has globally recognized 889 human instances and 463 deaths from H5N1 since 2003, placing the mortality charge at roughly 52%.
Extremely, the surging recognition of uncooked milk appears to be instantly associated to the detection of fowl flu in unpasteurized dairy merchandise and a mistaken perception that being uncovered to the virus will probably be useful to people.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday that curiosity in uncooked milk producers has solely intensified for the reason that fowl flu pandemic began worsening on U.S. farms:
Mark McAfee, founding father of Fresno’s Uncooked Farm and the Uncooked Milk Institute, mentioned his cellphone has been ringing off the hook with “prospects asking for H5N1 milk as a result of they need immunity from it.” (Fowl flu has not been detected in California’s dairy herds.)
Different uncooked milk drinkers, corresponding to Peg Coleman, a medical microbiologist who runs Coleman Scientific Consulting, a Groton, N.Y.-based meals security consulting firm, claimed the federal government’s warnings don’t have any foundation in actuality.
Social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter have loads of anti-science activists extolling the virtues of uncooked milk, and people influencers have appeared to solely gain traction since fowl flu was first detected in American dairy cows on March 25.
Please don’t drink uncooked milk at any time, particularly not now. Regardless of claims that there are dietary advantages to uncooked milk, that’s merely not true, in accordance with the CDC. The lone declare that holds up is that uncooked milk tastes higher, one thing that’s clearly a matter of style. And that’s a extremely silly cause to get very, very sick—to say nothing about probably kicking off a model new human-centered pandemic that might kill half of everybody contaminated with it.
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